Dancing with Vampires
by AwesomeDisneyMoviesFan
Summary: Ethan goes to visit his cousin Tara Webster in Australia for the week. What will happen when he meets the rest of the dancers at the Academy and tries to confront his feelings for Benny? Suckish summary, I know, but please read and review anyway!
1. Ethan's Arrival

Ethan's heart was beating wildly out of his chest. He'd forgotten what it was like to come to a new school, especially if it was a huge fancy school like this. Over the spring vacation, Ethan's mother and and father went away to China to compete in an international bowling championship and Jane was staying at her friend Kristy's house. The Morgans didn't have any close relatives that he could stay with so they sent him to stay with his cousin Tara Webster at the National Academy of Dance in Australia. Even Ethan's best friend Benny prmoised he would come too. He was going to catch the next flight to Australia and meet Ethan in Australia in a couple days. Right now, he had to find his cousin Tara whom he hadn't seen since he was four and try to fit in at this prestigious school of dance. Well, the fitting in part didn't seem to last very long.

As he roamed the school building following the instructions he's been given, he passed windows to classrooms conducting dance classes. Ethan never really considered himself the dancing type, but he still thought it would be kind of cool to learn some new moves while he was here. After all, it looked like a lot of fun.

"Come to spy on the ballet boys, new guy?" a female voice called. He turned around suddenly, surprised to see the blonde girl who was questioning him. "Uh, no. No." he stuttered. "I'm not new here. I mean, I am new here, I'm just not…" He tried to regain his dignity by clearing his throat. "I'm looking for Tara Webster, have you seen her?" The blonde girl smiled. "Yeah, 'course I've seen her, she's my best friend! And judging by your accent, I'm guessing you're not from around here." Ethan shook his head. "Nope. I just flew in from Canada. I came to visit Tara over the break. We're cousins." The blonde's eyes widened. "Oh yeah! Tara told me her cousin was going to stay here for the week. She's still in class right now, but I can show you around while we wait. I'm Kat, by the way. Kat Karamokov." He followed her as she started to walk around. "I'm Ethan. Ethan Morgan." her head seemed to spin around as he mentioned his name. "Ethan, huh? You have the same name as my brother. Hopefully that's all you have in common though. He's a jerk." Ethan was quite sure how to respond to that, so he just let Kat keep talking.

"Over there are the girls dorms, just past the studio where you came in. My room's right there and Tara's is to the right. You'll be staying with Christian and Sammy in the boys dorms down there. There's only two beds but I think Sammy has a sleeping bag you can use until another room opens up. Oh look, there's Tara, her class must have gotten out early. Hi Tara!" Kat waved at the girl in the distance as she approached them. "Hey Kat, who's this?" she asked before getting a good look at him. "No way, cousin Ethan? I haven't seen you since we were little kids! I almost didn't recognize you." she squealed as she gave Ethan a hug. Ethan wasn't really that much of a hugger so his attempt at hugging Tara back must have looked rather pathetic. At least Kat seemed to be enjoying this awkward family reunion. "So Ethan, since I bet Kat has shown you around already, want to go grab a bite to eat? I can introduce to the rest of our friends there." Ethan nodded. "Sure." As nice as his cousin and Kat were, he couldn't help but long for the company of his best friend. No, Benny was more than just his best friend, and what he felt for him was definately more than friendship.

For the past year, Ethan had been having suspiscions that he was gay and even though he likes to say he's accepted it, he still doesn't understand what it all means. Only his parents and Jane knew about his homosexual feelings, but not that he had them for Benny. Tara tapped on his shoulder, bringing him out of his little daydream. "You ok, Ethan? You look like you have a lot on your mind." she asked. He considered telling her and Kat about his crush on Benny, but he didn't wanf to bore them with his personal life. "Nah, it's nothing." he lied. Kat didn't believe him for a second. "Whatever 'nothing' is, you can tell me and Tara. We won't judge." Something about the look on their faces was reassuring so he decided to trust them.

"Okay. Well, for the past few weeks, I've kind of been starting to get these...these..." he began. Boy was this harder to say than he though. He sighed. "...these things for my best friend." Kat and Tara exchanged a giddy look. They seemed to knjow exactly what was going on. "That's it? Ethan, that's nothing to be ashamed of. Everyone gets man crushes, some are just stronger than others for some people." Tara reassured him. Kat nodded in agreement. "Totally. But you know, I think I know someone who might be able to help you out." Tara seemed to understand who she meant and smiled with approval, but Ethan couldn't have been more confused.

Their stroll took them to the outdoor café where students ate. While Kat and Tara ordered their lunch, Ethan snuck away to sit at an empty table. They probably didn't mean to, but they'd been making him a bit uncomfortable. "Hey mate." A boy said, looking up from his lunch to greet Ethan. Guess the table wasn't as empty as he'd thought. "Oh, um, hey...mate" he blundered. His accidental emphasis on the Australian slang term must have made him stand out even more. They boy chuckled. It must have been so obvious that he wasn't from around here that he didn't even bother to ask. "I think I recognize you from earlier today. Weren't you the one watching boys ballet through the window?" Ethan blusjed but nodded. Apparently he hadn't been so discrete with his peeking. "Hey, no worries, I don't blame you. Things can get pretty interesting in there sometimes." he said nonchalantly as he took another bite of his sandwich. "Yeah...guys in tights...real interesting." He didn't mean for it to comeout the way ir had, but even so, the look in the boy's eyes reassured Ethan that that he knew exactly what he meant. Just from that moment alone, they had a new mutual understanding for each other, one that certainly meant a new friendship was forming.

"There you are!" he heard Kat say as she and Tara approached the their table with trays in hand. "We got you a sandwich." Tara said, shoving a tuna melt in his face. "I see you've met Sammy." The boy, apparently Sammy, looked down, slightly annoyed by their interruption. "Hello, girls." he greeted. The girls looked at each other funny again, like they were talking to each other without even using words just so no one else could heare what they were saying. Sammy shot them a definate annoyed look. Kat threw her hands up innocently. "Oh, I get it. We've interrupted your male bonding." she teased with a smirk on her face. "We'll just leave you two to your business then." her fingers pointed in the opposite direction as her and Tara just went to watch from a nearby corner. Ethan looked to Sammy with confusion.

"Are they always like this?"

"You have no idea."


	2. Benny's Arrival

Benny flipped through his spell book as he sat in the back seat of a cab that was taking him to the National Academy of Dance. Honestly, he wasn't even sure why he agreed to come to this fancy dance school for the week. If it weren't for Ethan and all his begging, he'd still be in Whitechapel with his grandmother doing chores….now that he thought of it, a week at a dance school in Australia didn't sound so bad. Maybe he had a better shot with the ladies now that he was on a whole other continent, who knows? If a girl even showed a little interest in him, it would be worth the long hours stuck on a plane between two fat people with allergies. "Here we are, son. The National Academy of Dance." the cab driver announced as he pulled the cab up to the entrance to the grand building. Benny tipped the driver and got out of the vehicle, holding his bags close to his sides as he waltzed toward the door. He wished he would have packed a lot lighter because these bags were getting heavier by the minute. Too bad he couldn't use magic while he was here, otherwise he'd make this a lot easier.

The stairs were even more of a challenge, so he was down before he even got to the third step. His bags went flying, one even hitting a girl in the back of the head. As Benny got up, rubbing his aching back, the girl stared him down angrily. Benny didn't know why she was angry so he just smiled awkwardly at her. She smiled back, but a lot less genuinely. Her smile faded quickly into a disapproving grimace as she dropped the bag that had hit her at his feet. Benny glanced between her and the bag. "Oh…" he breathed. The girl rolled her eyes, clearly not amused by how long it took his to make the connection. "Do you mind? Some of us have more important things to do than to be your human target." she snapped. Benny, being as oblivious as he is, took this as a green flag to start flirting. "Not at all. As one of those important things is hanging with me." Yeah, that one sounded a lot better in his head. The girl seemed really irritated and was definately not in the mood to deal with this right now. "That doesn't even fall into the top one million." Whether by choice or by ignorance, Benny ignored her hostility. "I'm Benny, what's your name?" he chirped. "Abigail Armstrong." she answered simply. In seconds, her back faced him and she was walking away. Unluckily for her, he was terrible at taking hints. As he followed her like a puppy dog, Benny noticed her ballet slippers. "I see you like ballet. That's cool, I like ballet too. I mean, I've never actually done it before, but it does look like fun. Do you dance all the time? You look like you do, you seem very committed. Do you play video games?" "Enough!" Abigail was getting sick of Benny's rambling. "Look why do you go bug Tara? Her room is right there and she's absolutely love the company." Before he could even respond, Abigail had pushed Benny into the room and slammed the door behind him. Three pairs of eyes stared at him with confusion, but there was one familiar gaze that practically saved him from going insane.

"Hello" he greeted in his high voice, complete with an awkward little wave. His best friend chuckled and came to his side. "Guys, this is my best friend Benny. Benny, this is my cousin Tara and her friends Kat and Sammy." The three faces greeted him in overlapped unison. "It's nice to meet you, Benny." Tara beamed with a smile bigger than the Cheshire Cat's. No one ever smiled at him like that, especially not a girl, which was both awesome and unsettling to him. He let an awkward silence pass by before he figured out what he wanted to say next. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I? 'Cause I was kind of just thrown in here by this girl named Abigail." he admitted with a shrug. "You were being nice to her, weren't you?" asked Kat. Benny was unsure of what he was supposed to say to that. "Uh… yeah, I was." Sammy them stepped in front of Kat to get a better look at Benny. "Don't let her scare you, Benny. Abigail's not so bad, she's just very dedicated to her ballet. And besides, her and Kat don't exactly coexist well." Even before he was done talking, Benny could tell that Kat was ready to blow. "Ok fine! Maybe Abigail and I don't get along very well, but that is nowhere near my fault, I-" "Whatever, Kat, let's just not give this guy such a bad impression of the Academy so soon, ok?" Kat and Benny's expressions could both be described as puzzled in that moment, but Kat's at least eventually morphed into a look of comprehension. Sammy could tell that Benny again didn't know how to react, his face kept changing expressions unsurely. Sammy gave him a friendly pat on the back and whispered "Seriously dude, don't sweat it."

As he got acquainted with his new friends, Benny had remained oblivious to the fact the Ethan had been staring at him the whole time since he'd walked through the door. "So…" Benny breathed. "This Abigail chick.. you think she'll go for me?" It wasn't long after he opened his mouth that Kat and Tara started laughing uproariously. "Dude, you might want to lower your expectations to someone actually attainable." roared Kat. through laughs. "Abigail's never gone for anyone." added Tara as the laughing died down. "Even the guys she has dated had to chase after her a lot before she even bothered to acknowledge their existence." Tara turned around to invite her cousin to sit closer to them. It was almost like he'd been scooting away every time Benny mentioned Abigail. Of course, he denied it and went to sit next to Benny.

"Hey, should I order us a pizza?" chimed in Sammy. He got an immediate bug eyed reaction from Benny. "You guys like pizza too?" he exclaimed. Kat looked at him like the answer was obvious. "Duh! We're Australians! We're not from the moon. Everybody likes pizza." He had to admit, he couldn't argue with her there. As long as they were paying for the pizza, he could get used to life at the Academy real fast.


End file.
